Alaskan Alpine Club
The 2005-06 Twin Towers, Page 1
11 October 2005 to 3 November 2005. Then Twin Towers Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7, Page 8.
This year Big John Reeves the local big ice artist is crafting two big ice towers, on the bluff above the Radome.
He informs us that his inspiration will be revealed to those who watch.
11 October. The official turn-on-the-pump photo.
John's mom, switching on the main pump.
John's wife switched on the other pump for the other ice tower.
Ice artists need a lot of assistance.
The wiring meets the official Ice Towers Code, revised edition.
North site spraying water in the photo on the left, and the two initial nozzles about 150 feet apart from each other, at the top of a bluff.
The irrigation sprinkler heads will be adequate until we make some adjustments on the official nozzle heads.
The Radome, otherwise known as the golf ball, is the well known surplused radar dome from Donnelly Dome, near the Alaska Range south of Fairbanks. Rumored to have been developed by MIT, the Radome housed the radar for the old Cold War military game. The radar controlled the Nike Missiles ready to shoot down those pesky Soviet Bear Bombers constantly rumored to be sneaking around the coast of Alaska, looking for a spot between the Radomes. Early commie sky terrorists, back when terrorists could afford their own airplanes. The Nike Missiles never shot down a single Russian Bomber, but the mosquito population was sometimes impacted during the test firings. Kinda makes my bragging about shooting mosquitoes with my 44, a bit lower on the macho scale. The dome is a bit of Alaska history. An increasing array of rumors are predicted for its future use. When a dome project advances, we will report on the rumor of it.
19 October. Global warming is retarding ice formation, but we are losing 7 minutes of sunlight each day, so we anticipate global cooling within days.
22 October.
South tower in left 2 photos. North tower on right.
Added the new nozzle heads.
The nozzle head design progression is shown at the bottom of the Ice Towers page.
26 October
Both sites in left photo, then south and north.
The new nozzle head makes some cool fan shapes.
28 October. Added 5 feet of pipe. 10 feet of pipe on each tower now.
31 October. Tower tops about 11 feet from ground. Added 5 feet of pipe after the photos. 15 feet of pipe in each tower.
North tower on left. South tower on right and below.
1 November. South tower on left. North in middle photo. Both on right.
Did not add pipe. Each tower is about 16 feet high. The ice if forming nicely on the bluff side below the towers.
3 November.
Added 5 feet of pipe after the photos. 20 feet of pipe in each tower now.
The nozzle head in the south tower was six feet below the top, which required a lot of ice chopping, which took awhile. By the time I turned the water back on (closed the bypass valve at the bottom of the bluff), some water remaining in the line had frozen, and almost blocked the flow. It dribbled for about an hour before the flow melted through. We may have an interrupted gradient between the nozzle head and bypass valve, which may imperil the total tower height, which therefore requires the odds makers to adjust the odds for the rumored guessing. We will strive to minimize the no-flow time while changing nozzle heads.
The towers are starting to attract attention. Passing cars on the road are stopping to let their drivers watch the water freeze.
More ice on Twin Towers 2.
05-06 Ice Towers 2
05-06 Ice Towers 3
05-06 Ice Towers 4
05-06 Ice Towers 5
05-06 Ice Towers 6
05-06 Ice Towers 7
05-06 Ice Towers 8
04-05 Ice Tower
03-04 Ice Wall
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Climbing Concepts 1
Climbing Concepts 2
Climbing Concepts 3
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